A group of men summoning a dragon for nefarious purposes, a young hero, raised far away by dwarves, coming to his first city, a group of rather incompetent guards; these are common enough cliches in fantasy stories, but Pratchett turns them on their head and makes them hilarious. Fooling with cliches and assumptions, he keeps you on your toes by throwing you for a loop when things don't follow along a standard storyline. This was the first of Prachett's books I had read, as I have always been daunted by the length of his Discworld series. I live in a rural area, and getting stuck in the middle of a series for an extended length of time because you can't get the rest of the books is not at all fun.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of this author's work though, as this was quite possibly the best comedic fantasy I have read. His writing is witty and sharp, with plenty of laugh out loud spots. (Per-maybe-haps best not read in public, as you get odd looks and people edge away when you sit there laughing and giggling over a book.)
Emme
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